


Role Reversal

by siltscribe



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 06:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13607784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siltscribe/pseuds/siltscribe
Summary: Chidi has no idea what he's in for when he hears Jason wants to see him.





	Role Reversal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiraMira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMira/gifts).



> Set in the second season of the show, though that isn't overly important. Happy Chocolate Box! I really hope you like it!

"Well, here goes."

Chidi knocked on the door to Jason's "budhole," shaking his head. To be honest, he wasn't sure what he was doing here. All he knew was that Jason wanted to see him. He'd tried to get a reason out of Tahani when she'd answered the door, but she'd simply shook her head. He hadn't expected her to know, Jason didn't seem the type to run his ideas or plans by other people. Or, really, to plan anything at all. So, he really had no idea why he was here, except that Janet had been quite insistent that Jason wanted to see him. 

"Yo, it's open! Oh, oh NO, NO, how—how did this— _aw, maaan, not again!_ " 

Chidi closed the door behind him, taking extra care not to step on any of the things scattered across the floor. Granted, a good amount of it seemed to be trash or food wrappers, but he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he accidentally stepped on something. And he'd overheard the girls discussing a turtle the other day, and though he really didn't think Janet or Tahani would have actually given Jason one, it wasn't a chance he was ready to take. 

High-stepping through the clutter, he made his was across the room to where the television was. Sprawled over a beanbag chair across from it was Jason, scowling at the screen, a game controller in hand. Judging from the scowl, the game was not cooperating. 

"Ah, hey Chidi! I was just playing this new game Janet gave me, but ah, I don't really understand it. I keep making these choices, and all this guy cares about is finding his son. It's really depressing. I don't think I like it. There's no shooting or anything. All he does is walk around yelling for Sean. And I keep thinking about _Shawn._ You, know, the judge?" 

Chidi closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "He wasn't really a—You know what? It doesn't matter. I get it, it'd throw me off my game too." 

He decided not to ask about the game itself. He wasn't exactly up-to-date on the latest (or, if he was being honest, _any_ ) video games. It was true that his knowledge of all things pop culture was expanding in part due to Eleanor, but he sincerely doubted his ability to hold his own in a conversation on the subject with Jason. 

"I really didn't mean to interrupt, but... Janet said you wanted to see me?" 

Jason's eyes sparkled, and he broke into a grin. "Dude, I did! I mean, I do!" He tossed the controller to the side, ignoring Chidi's wince as it landed in a pile of Doritos wrappers. "Eleanor told me you wrote a rap!" 

"Oh?" Chidi was taken aback, but he felt the corners of his mouth lift up a bit. That surprised him. Eleanor hadn't seemed particularly impressed with it at the time, and the last thing he'd expected was for her to tell anyone about it. He fiddled with the cuff of his shirt, and stammered a bit. "Did, ah, did she like it?" 

"No." Jason picked at the seam on the beanbag, avoiding Chidi's gaze. "She said it sucked." 

Chidi's face fell. "Ah. Right, I thought—" 

"I mean it _really_ sucked." 

"Thank you, Jason." 

"Dude, she said it sucked worse than that time that Garth Brooks made that album under a fake name." 

"JASON." Chidi snapped, rocking back and forth on his heels. 

Jason quit talking, and hung his head, not unlike a kid who just got reprimanded by the teacher. Chidi hated himself for it, but he instantly felt guilty for snapping. Jason wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he generally meant well. And despite all the things he'd done in the past, Jason had never been purposefully malicious to any of them, just… a little dopey. 

Chidi took a breath and released it, waiting a beat for the twinge of annoyance to pass before speaking again. "I'm… glad to hear that, I guess? I mean, the Garth thing. Clearly not that my rap sucked. But you didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I mean, Eleanor was pretty straight up with me about it when I showed her. And now you've illustrated the point even further. So, if you don't mind; could we get to why you asked me here?" 

"Dude, that's it though!" Jason grinned, rubbing his hands together. It was a switch had been flipped, and his mood had completely changed. "I, Jason Mendoza, am going to teach you, Chidi, how to rap." He then put his hands onto his hips, sticking his chin into the air in his best Superman pose. 

" _You're_ going to teach _me_ how to rap?" Chidi almost laughed. He couldn't say what he'd expected, but he knew without a doubt, that this wasn't it. 

Still standing tall in his Superman pose, Jason nodded enthusiastically. Chidi shook his head. The boy didn't retain much; but what he did manage to learn stuck with him. The girls had made them watch a TED talk on power poses -- done by a close personal friend of Tahani's, naturally -- and Jason had been hooked as soon as he saw one looked like a superhero. Granted, first he'd tried to invent a Batman one.. But otherwise, he'd picked it up wonderfully. 

"I didn't know you rapped, Jason." 

"Well, I ...don't." His face fell a little, but the disappointment didn't last long. He let go of the pose, and shifted awkwardly. "But I _can_ dance! And that's basically rap for your feet, isn't it?" 

Chidi's eyebrow shot up. "No, no Jason, I don't think it is. Not at all, actually..." 

Jason ignored him and started gesturing animatedly. "And, I do listen to a lot of rap. And watch a lot of rap videos. And oh! I even danced to a rap song once when we lost our music at a dance battle. See, my boy Pillboi had this Pitbull CD in the car. It was so good, we nicked it off his ex, but man, it so not as easy to dance to as EDM is… and…” 

He trailed off, coming to a stop in front of Chidi, who didn't look amused. He shrugged, and gave Chidi a half grin. "Besides, I gotta have your back, dude. That's what we do, you know?" 

Chidi didn't know what to say. Jason was right. Really, all four of them had more than been there for each other. Especially now that it was literally them against the demons. 

This was more than that though. He could tell from the look on Jason's face. Jason might have been a mess of a person when he was alive, but his one redeeming quality, Chidi could argue, was his heart. He seemed like the type of person who was extremely passionate about his friends, and would do anything for them. 

Legal, or otherwise. 

Chidi had no idea what that felt like. He'd never really had many close friends - especially not any who would have gone out of their way to help him with something so trivial. Usually either his indecisiveness or his constant ethical quandaries were more than enough to keep people at bay. The fact that someone he barely knew was willing to take their time to do something special for him warmed his heart. There wasn't much to be thankful for in their current situation, but Chidi was starting to view Jason's friendship as one of the few things that made it worth getting out of bed in the morning. That, and the fact that Vicky seemed infinitely less competent than Michael had been. 

He didn't necessarily want to learn to rap, but it could be fun to do something for a change that wasn't either classes, or planning how they wouldn't get found out. And who knows? Maybe he'd show Eleanor later? She might get a kick out of it. She seemed to really like when he did something decidedly "un-Chidi-like," as she put it. 

Chidi placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head in Jason's direction. "Jason, I would be honored to have you as a teacher. I can't promise that I'll be a good student, but." 

Jason jumped in the air, pumping his fists. Whatever anyone said about him, they couldn't say he lacked enthusiasm. "Sweet! Dude, this is going to be SO much fun. First, we're gonna have to watch some videos. You can't just talk real fast. You've gotta get the vibe of it. Like, you gotta _feel_ it, you know?" 

"No, no I don't know. But, actually, I imagine that's part of the pro--" He didn't get a chance to finish, however. Jason was on a mission. 

"Hey, Janet?" On cue, Janet popped into the room. Chidi wondered what she did when she wasn't with them, and if she was always waiting around to be summoned; or if she had some sort of ping system set up to notify her? It all seemed incredibly interesting, but he'd never brought it up. He could never think of a way that didn't seem rude. 

"Hello!" 

Chidi waved awkwardly at Janet, who returned the gesture, looking genuinely happy to be there. For that, Chidi was grateful. With all the reboots, and the brief fling Tahani and Jason had had, tensions had been running high between the two of them lately. "Hey, Janet. How are you?" 

Janet grinned. "I'm wonderful, Chidi. Also, if you're trying to politely ask about my malfunctioning, don't worry! Those haven't happened in a few days, so Michael and I are calling that a win for now. How are you?" 

"I--" 

He didn't have a chance to reply, Jason cut him off, waving his hands to get Janet's attention. "He's great, Janet. Listen, I'm about to teach Chidi, and I need some help. Can you get me some rap videos? For the TV?" 

Janet shot a glance at Chidi, looking confused. And for someone who essentially knew all the information in the world, she wasn't confused very often. 

"To rap. He's... teaching me to rap." Chidi crossed his arms over his chest, hoping the answer would be enough to satisfy her. 

"Oh. Right on." She held out her hands, and in the blink of an eye, they were filled with a stack of what Chidi assumed were DVD's. She handed them to Jason, who ran over and put the first one in the player, before plopping down in one of the many beanbag chairs scattered around. 

"Allriiight dudes. Let's _do_ this!" 

~~ 

The last video faded to black. Jason jumped up, clearly excited, and turned to face Janet and Chidi. "Welp. That's the last one. What do you guys think? 

Chidi made a steeple with his hands, and leaned his head against it. That had certainly been.... something. Where did he even begin? "Jason, it was.. Well..." 

Janet patted Chidi on the leg, and winked at him before addressing Jason. "Jason, I think what Chidi is trying to say, is that he was uncomfortable. There were a lot of breasts. And lots of profanity. And big-" 

"Ohhh boy. Yes, thank you Janet. I don't think I would have put it quite like that, but." Chidi felt his stomach knot. This wasn't going well so far. And even though they weren't exactly the type of things he wanted to watch, he hated to say so when Jason was trying to helpful. But there was no getting around it. And honestly, he wasn't a much better liar than he was a rapper, so, it would have probably come out anyway. "Yes, that's exactly what it was. Jason, I'm sorry, but it's true." 

Jason nodded, looking deflated. "That's true. I guess rap isn't very ethics-y. I'm sorry, Chidi." 

"Well, quite the opposite, actually. If you look at the social and political history of the genre, you might be surprised to find-" 

"Not now, Chidi. No offense, but that doesn't matter now. What matters, is teaching you to rap. And we can't do that if-- ooooooh, snap!" 

Janet and Chidi both jumped at the sudden change of direction in Jason's rambles. 

"Yo, I got it! Janet, I need the MIB movies. And, that old Pokemon movie I used to have? The one I broke when I tried to use it in a game of Ultimate Frisbee?" 

Before Chidi could blink, Janet was holding a small stack of DVD's. Jason grabbed them and starting rambling on about the movies. Something about aliens, and neuralizers, and talking dogs... Chidi was having a hard time following, and a harder time trying to figure out how it would help him with rapping. 

"You're kidding, right?" Chidi couldn't believe it. This was his plan? Movies about aliens and a children's cartoon?? 

"Yo, dude. You don't even know. Will Smith saves the _world._ The theme songs are so good. They're on the special features, you'll see. It's perfect. And he doesn't even cuss in his songs. Zero ethical dilemma. High-five." He was beaming as he reached out and accepted the high five from Janet before putting the DVD in the player. 

Chidi braced himself as Jason navigated the menus to get to the special features. He knew the gist of the movie, but like most other movies, he'd never gotten around to seeing it. But, it couldn't be much worse than what they'd watched already, right? 

And as it turned out, it wasn't at all! It did have "sexy dancing," in a way, but instead of scantily clad women, it was what he assumed were alien women. And, it felt more tongue in cheek than anything. And Jason was right, the songs really were catchy! He could already tell, both songs were going to be stuck in his head for the next few weeks. Chidi shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, you're right. I can't find anything in that to argue with. Heck, I even liked the suits. I could do that. But... what about the cartoon?" 

If Jason had been excited before, he was absolutely giddy now. He was bouncing in his chair, and Chidi was honestly afraid for a moment he might burst. 

"I'm gonna warn you, this is really hardn You're gonna love it though. It's so cool. And I.. oh I'm so dumb, we should have done this first. It's the best. And even has audience participation. Here, Janet! Put this in. I need to prepare myself. This takes so much focus, and I always screw it up. " 

Jason handed the DVD to Janet, and arranged himself in what looked to Chidi like a meditation posture on the floor, and closed his eyes. 

Not knowing what else to do, Chidi sighed, and followed suit. 

"Like I said, this isn't gonna be easy. There are _so_ many of them. If you mess up, that's okay. We can rewind the tape as many times as we want. We'll probably have to do it a few times." 

Cracking his knuckles, he gave Janet a Matrix style wave from his seat on the floor, while Chidi prepared himself for what was to come. "Janet, please put the tape in." 

~~~ 

"What _are_ they doing?" 

Tahani stood outside the door to Jason's budhole, looking absolutely indignant. Chidi had been in there with Jason for _hours_ , and neither of them had surfaced once. She had no idea what they were doing, and it was driving her crazy. 

She'd tried her best to ignore it, and go on with her day, but she just wasn't able to let it go. 

Luckily enough for her, Eleanor was an even nosier person than she was, and had jumped at the opportunity to do some spying. 

"Girl, I have no idea. But, whatever they're doing, it's not going very well. I don't think I've ever heard Chidi cuss so much. It's kinda hot, don't you think?" 

Tahani rolled her eyes, pressing her ear back against the door. "Extremely so. Anywho, what.. oh I think I've got something. Hang on... wait, what's an Arbok? And a Pigeot, good lord what is that?" She screwed up her face at the awkward words, and tried to press her ear even more into the door. "And there's a slowpoke. That word I know. El-- Eleanor, why on earth are you laughing? Oh, I hardly think this is the time! I asked you here to help me figure this out and--" Tahani let her voice trail off, really, she doubted Eleanor was paying attention anyway. She'd started laughing so hard she'd completely doubled over. Hands on her hips, she tapped her toe impatiently, waiting for an answer from the other woman. 

"Dude, it's the Pokerap. How do you not recognize that?" 

Nothing. Tahani didn't reply, didn't show any indication of having heard her, except to raise an eyebrow. 

"I know, I know. It's not as good as the theme song, but let's face it, that one's a hard sundae to top. But I think-" She pressed her ear against the door again, and motioned for Tahani to do the same. They were nearly nose to nose as Eleanor struggled to make out more. "Oh my forking god, I think they're trying to rap. That's so cute!!" She collapsed into laughter again. It was too much. She'd heard Chidi attempt to rap once, but now he was trying again with Jason? What she wouldn't give to be a fly on that wall.... 

"Pok-e-mon?" The word felt foreign in Tahani's mouth, and Eleanor couldn't miss the confusion on her face. Surely she was just messing with her? 

"Oh my god. No forking way. You don't know what pokemon is?" 

"Obviously, Eleanor. If I _did_ know what it was, would I be looking this confused?" 

Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, the look kinda works for you hot stuff, so ... maybe?" 

Tahani shrugged, but Eleanor didn't give her a chance to answer. 

"Come on, you sexy skyscraper. You have got a lot to learn. You have another TV somewhere in this house, right?" 

When Tahani nodded, Eleanor linked her arm through Tahani's. "Good. Janet?" 

"Yes?" Janet had materialized outside the door next to them, wearing a Pikachu hat and dark sunglasses. Tahani opened her mouth to ask why she was dressed so ridiculously, but Eleanor waved her off. 

"Listen, babe. We need Pokemon DVD's. All of them. And snacks. So many snacks. And honestly, maybe the games too, but- oooooh wait. Could you make me a _real_ Oddish? Cause if that's the case, then oh, baby. I might have a new plan for taking out the Bad Place goons-" 

"Games?" Tahani interrupted, wrinkling her nose at the idea. Games were more Jason's speed than hers. It wasn't that she was _opposed_ , per se, but she had always been taught they were beneath her. 

Unfazed, Eleanor took the DVD's from Janet's outstretched hand, and shook her head, patting Tahani's arm. "Trust me doll. When I'm done with you, you won't be able to wait to play these games. You'd totally rock a team of all the cute-yet-devastating ones. I'd bet my hat. You're totally a fairy type. Or maybe a lass. A Beauty if we're talking new gen?" Tahani blushed, but Eleanor figured she was only doing it to be polite. She thrived on compliments and everyone knew it. 

Tahani still didn't understand, but decided not to press the issue. Eleanor sounded determined, and she had to admit, whatever it was sounded a little more fun than spending the rest of the day hanging out outside the door. 

Eleanor grinned, looping her free arm through Janet's, and started to lead them both away from Jason's room, and towards the other side of the house. "Ladies, you have no idea what you're in for. But you're about to have your lives changed." 

"Not a lady, but." 

Eleanor rolled her eyes at Janet’s comment . "Oh boy. It is gonna be a long night. Listen, Porygon. You've gotta let that go. You know darn well what we mean when we say that." 

Hoping that Janet's movie snacks included the long since discontinued Black Pepperjack Doritos, Eleanor tried not to think about the challenge that lay in front of her. It absolutely was going to be a long night, considering her students for the evening. It wasn't like Pokemon was a hard sell… but. It was a blessing at least, that one of them had access to literally all the knowledge in the world. At least if Tahani had questions, they'd be covered. 

Letting Tahani steer them towards the room they were headed for, she decided to go ahead and start their Pokemon education early. 

"Okay first? I don't care how far the series has come, Pokemon Yellow has always been and will always be the best. If anyone tells you different, they aren't your friend. Walk away. And lord, don't get me started on the reboot they did without Brock and Misty..."


End file.
